Major Spoilers Poll of the WeeK: X-Men vs. Legion of Super-Heroes

We all know everyone is special – a unique snow flake that has no companion (except for the twins).Â The DC Universe has a bunch of teenagers from the future who use their unique talents to save the universe, while Marvel 616 has a bunch of mutants who band together to save the universe.Â They are in no way alike – really.Â Trust us, we’ve got an uber-nerd working on this site, and he’ll tell you.

But even if they were remotely alike, and we could shape the universe to put the Legion of Super-Heroes and the X-Men on a deserted island and let them fight it out in a Battle Royale reality television series, who would come out on top?Â Would the X-Men win because they have Wolverine, or would it be the Legion because they have a 12th Level Intellect that can figure out the endgame before it happens?

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Stephen Schleicher

Stephen Schleicher began his career writing for the Digital Media Online community of sites, including Digital Producer and Creative Mac covering all aspects of the digital content creation industry. He then moved on to consumer technology, and began the Coolness Roundup podcast. A writing fool, Stephen has freelanced for Sci-Fi Channel's Technology Blog, and Gizmodo. Still longing for the good ol' days, Stephen launched Major Spoilers in July 2006, because he is a glutton for punishment.

You can follow him on Twitter @MajorSpoilers and tell him your darkest secrets...

I think if we were talking about the classic X-Men, as pictured above, then the Legion definitely have the upper hand. Without the cosmic-level Phoenix, the X-Men and the Legion are pretty evenly matched. Besides strength in numbers, a lot of the abilities and powers of the Legion are equal and counter to those in the X-Men (e.g. Sun Boy vs. Ice Man; Dawnstar vs. Angel, etc.) Furthermore, the Silver Age version of Legion (as pictured above) is quite a lot more powerful than contemporary Legions have been made out to be. Back in the Silver Age, for example, Saturn Girl’s telepathy almost had no limits as to what it could do, while Professor X’s telepathy needed (and still does need) Cerebro to enhance its effectiveness. And most of all, Brainiac 5 is a master strategist and tactician, so I think he’ll always have strategies to beat anyone, no matter who they are and how impossible the odds are. Think about it this way: he figured out a way to prevent the entire solar system from falling apart due to gravitational atrophy. And he did it fairly quickly, if I recall correctly. I think he can get a handle on the X-Men, no matter how much or how little prep time he has.

Part of the question has to be is it a fight to the last man/woman standing, or do you get points for each kill. ‘Cause the Legion has a lot of easy kills to really rack up the points before the big guns come in. And does Duplicate/Triplicate/Duo Damsel count as one or two or three or whatever? Is Bouncing Boy worth more if he is ballooned up than his usual worthless self? Karate Kid worth less points because he has died so many times? Lightning Lad 3/4 points for missing an arm? Etc. (Seriously though, how can the X-Men deal with Superboy, Supergirl, Mon-El, Element Lad, etc.? Obvious answer, they can’t. Not even Phoenix can tip that scale.)

I am going with the X-men for no other reason then they are my favorite. And since I know nothing about the legion I have nothing to base this on. I know that Matthew would want to vote for the Legion but you must remember that Mimic is an X-man!

If it’s a fight to the death and the Legion decides they’ll have to kill the X-Men, Elemental Lad alone ca do it. He can turn all the water in their bodies to sulfuric acid or remove all the air from their lungs and so on…

Save Professor-X, who on the X-Men roaster above can even slow down Mon-el or Ultra Boy?

Maximus: Who on the X-Men provides the distraction? Is it the gratuitous Rogue-in-a-bikini shot or the gratuitous Storm-nude-concealed-only-by-fog shot? Funny how the Legion never seemed to sink so low so often.

Ricco, I think the answer to your question is: no one. … Unless Wolverine persuades them to kill themselves by using his uber-marketing ability to be everywhere at once.

You aren’t suggesting that Clark Kent bears any resemblance to Kallark aka Gladiator or that there are similarities between Hobgoblin/Chameleon Boy or Titan/Colossal Boy or Nightside/Shadow Lass or Mentor/Braniac-5 or so on, are you?

The Legion is from the future (super advanced immune system and all that) and they have done crazy stuff like get two other versions of themselves to beat the bad guys, they can’t lose with Braniac 5 (times 3) on their side.

I seriously only picked the Xmen to hear Matthew rant. I mean I guess if there were some kind of way to learn about legionaires, like a history or something, I don’t know. Great job guys keep up the awesome work

Personal popularity wise? It’s a slight edge to the X-Men (sorry Matthew – it’s just a SLIGHT edge).
In a battle to the death? All depends on which members are present? Is Superboy with the Legion? Is Magik or Phoenix/Dark Phoenix with the X-Men? Dream Girl or Longshot? Based on all the X factors (pardon the pun), I have to call this one a draw.

So, since X-Men is the first team book I ever started collecting, I’m giving my vote to the X-Men…

Having Phoenix in any match up is an automatic win. I don’t think that is under consideration. It’s like having the JLA go against Power Pack if the Beyonder joined the kids’ group.

Popularity should have nothing to do with it. If it was equal numbers (say 5) using the very best of both teams, still the Legion. In a straight-up fight en masse, the Legion simply has too much going for it.

The X-Men got me into comics back when the Fox Kids show was on the air. The Legion kept me into comics during the long stretch in the late nineties when they were one of the only two series I still liked. To this day, I want to see a team-up crossover between the two, but a fight? Hmm… I have no idea. I just want them to team up.

I’m parital to Legion, because they have a ton of members that are really powerful, even outside Superboy, Mon-El, Ultra Boy, Element Lad,etc., and would give X-men a run for their money. It would be hard to have all of the legion’s 20+ members to attack X-men’s team, even if it was the combined efforts of the Blue and Gold teams. I would like to see a match up between Ferro Lad vs. Colossus, Polar boy vs. Iceman, Angel vs. Dawn Star, Brainic 5 vs. Prof. X or Saturn Girl vs. Prof.X, Cham vs. Mimic,etc. There are tons of possibilities.

I believe the Legion would ultimately prevail over the X-Men but it would be an epic, extended battle, especially if both teams had access to the entire membership rosters. There are interesting matchups because of complementary and comparable skill and power sets. Chameleon Boy v. Mystique; Phantom Girl v. Shadowcat; Polar Boy v. Iceman; Sunfire v. Sun Boy; Wolverine v. Timber Wolf Would 12th-level computer-mind Brainiac 5 supported by Saturn Girl be able to resist the X-Men’s telepaths, Prof. X, Jean Gray,and the White Queen? Cosmic Boy could perform the same adamantium-stripping attack as Magneto did years ago. For that matter, Colossus in his organic-steel armored form would be vulnerable to magnetism. A cross-over mini-series along the lines of JLA v. Avengers would sell exceptionally well with the right casting of writer and artist.

Jimmy Olsen put it best once when Mongul was coming to stomp earth (and I paraphrase here not having the issue in front of me) “The Legion has Mon-El, Ultra Boy and couple of other members who could eat the JLA for breakfast.”
Phoenix is a powerhouse, but after her who’ve you got? Mon-El could pretty much wipe out the entire X-Men by himself sans Phoenix in about two minutes (super speed, strength, invulnerability are an impossible combo to beat) leaving you with 25 Legionnaires to take out one opponent. We’re talking Superman level power in several members of the Legion. Yes Invisible Kid, Bouncing Boy et al will be getting fast tracked to Shanghalla, but Wildfire, Lightning Lad, Element Lad, Star Boy & Light Lass (who when combined are as powerful as say Graviton)Ultra Boy, Sun Boy, etc. are just too powerful.
In fact, that was always the problem with DC. Their heroes are simply ridiculous. The X-Men are inherently more interesting because of their limits.
If they could beat the Legion The X-Men’d actually be far worse off because of it…

The Legion would win hands down with just Element Lad, as some people have already mentioned. I think I remember him changing the iron in blood to a different element, in one comic, which is one way of many he could easily take down the X-Men.

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